Christmas Story: Love Is In The Air
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Begin.
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The sounds of Christmas music playing on the family stereo filtered up into Kasumi's room. Merrily she hummed to herself as she put on her outfit for the day. Christmas eve was today, and there was a lot to do.
"Hold still will you." Akane muttered to Ranma as he squirmed under her. "How am I supposed to tie this thing on you if you won't hold still?" Akane admonished him. Reluctantly Ranma stopped squirming.
"Why do I gotta wear this dumb thing anyway Akane?" Ranma whined. "I only get dressed up for important stuff, not silly things like this." Ranma muttered, and received a sharp smack to the back of his head.
"Idiot. Christmas IS important stuff. Now hold STILL!" Akane said as she jerked Ranma back by his bow tie. She moved his ever so present pigtail out of the way.
"OUCH!" said Ranma as he felt some of his hair get snagged with her fingers as she tied.
"Sorry!" she said as she silently hummed a Christmas Carol. She smiled happily. Today, the Tendo and Saotome families would spend some time together and go out caroling and watch a movie at the theater after supper and then come home and decorate the Christmas tree. It was family time. Which meant, no annoying fiancees. No one to cause a scene. How perfect could that be? 'Too perfect, probably.' thought Akane to herself. Still, one can always hope.
"Why do I have to dress up and nobody else?" whined Ranma for the eighteenth time. Akane sighed.
"We have gone over this a million times," she said as patiently as she could. Which is to say, not too patiently. "Because you and Uncle Genma are guests here, you have to welcome the visitors and Uncle Genma had to go buy a Christmas tree so that we can decorate it later tonight. It's downstairs in the living room, right now."
"I still don't think it's fair," said Ranma. "I mean, I can welcome them wearing my usual clothes can't I?" Akane sighed once more and counted to one hundred, hoping she would calm down before 'accidentally' choking him with his bow tie.
Downstairs the rest of the family, except for Nabiki, were hanging Christmas decorations and singing to themselves as they worked. Today just might be a relatively normal day in the Tendo
household . . . or maybe not. Looking at her clock, Nabiki smiled in anticipation of what was about to happen. Her camera was ready.
Earlier that week, Nabiki had thought up a plan. A perfect plan, that would help her earn some yen. After a little bit of investigating, she started it. Oh, what fun! She could just imagine the looks on their faces. She smiled evilly as she prepared her camera with a new roll of film and new batteries. She glanced at her desk clock. It was 5:10 with 30 seconds. The fun would start soon, very soon. Now, if only Ranma would cooperate...
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Ukyou looked into her full length mirror. She had changed into a deep green outfit. Tight pants slip up her legs and fit perfectly. It fit like second skin. The blouse came on next. It had a Peter Pan collar and was a lighter shade of green with embroidered cherries on her breast pocket. Her hair was put up in a high ponytail with a red bow. The reindeer shaped-earrings were next. "I hope Ran-chan likes them," she thought as her earrings were clipped on. There was no way she was going to pierce her ears. She looked at herself again in the mirror.
"Not bad, Ukyou," she thought. A loose red winter coat came on next and she finished her outfit with a pair of black boots. "Ranma, you better appreciate what I'm doing for you. I'll save you from those hussies myself!" With that, Ukyou grabbed her bottle of perfume. It had cost a lot, considering that she was buying it from Nabiki. "Love Potion, #5" said the bottle in Chinese. She might not know much Chinese, but she did recognize the character for love. She added one of Ranma's hairs into the bottle and shook it vigorously. "This will ensure that you'll fall in love with me. Ranma, you're mine. And we'll live happily ever after!" After 5 minutes, she sprayed herself with it. Her smile adorned her face as she grabbed a purse and Ranma's blue Christmas present. She left at exactly 5:12 in the morning.
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Elsewhere, in the Nekohanten, to be exact, Shampoo finished putting on the final touches to her outfit. Her infamous tight Chinese dress was just as immodest as her other dresses. Of course, this one was different. It was a Christmas style dress with white fur trimmings. The dress was made of deep red silk with light red embroidered dragons twisting all over it.
"Tonight, Ranma be Shampoo's... for ever," she thought, with a grin. She carefully tip toed to her door and locked it. It would do no good for her grandmother to know what she was doing. Especially, since it was one of her grandmother's most important tonics. She had replaced it with normal perfume, since her grandmother didn't have any reason to get it. She had even bought a little label and printed on it in Chinese characters, "Love Potion, #5" It was perfect. She would return the real bottle to the cupboard once she had caught Ranma.
She reached into her vanity case and brought it out. A small bottle of love potion. She reached into her apron pocket and brought our one of Ranma's hairs. It was quite lucky that Ranma came over to eat so many times. She dropped the hair into the bottle and shook it. She waited for five minutes and kissed it for good luck. After the five minutes, she sprayed some on. She dropped her perfume bottle into her small purse. As she left the restaurant, she picked up the red present by the door. 5:12.
Cologne watched as Shampoo sped away on her bike. She went into her cupboard and took out the bottle of "Love Potion, #5". She would make sure her son-in-law would go after Shampoo. After all, she wanted to go back to China for Chinese New Years.
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Kodachi Kuno looked at her new leotard. It was bright red, in the spirit of Christmas, but it still had her trademark sign on it, a black rose. It also had silver piping that accentuated the leotard at exactly the right place. She quickly put it on and admired herself in her mirror. Of course, it was better to call it wall, since her whole wall was a gigantic mirror. She then put on a kimono. It was made from the finest silk and was a dazzling white. A red obi decorated it and fit her perfectly. It was custom made and Kodachi had altered it a bit. Like the deep pockets inside it. Like the tightness of it that also accentuated her slim and taut body. If it weren't for the insane look on her face, she might have been considered cute.
"Ranma darling," she thought to herself as she reached into the kimono and brought out a small bottle of... Love Potion, #5. "Tonight, we will be wed. Me in my splendid kimono, and you in tight black spandex suit that will mark you as mine." She reached into her huge closet and pulled it out. The words on it were, "Kodachi's Property". She had made Sazuke translate the bottle for her, so that she could be sure it was a real love potion and not just normal perfume. She sighed with ecstasy as she imagined Ranma's sleek and muscled form in it. She gently folded it once more and put it away. From another pocket, she brought out a strand of hair. The bottle was opened and the hair dropped. After shaking it, Kodachi sprayed herself with it and tucked it into her pocket. It was quite expensive, especially since she had bought it from that... Nabiki. But any price was worth having Ranma as hers. She quickly picked up Ranma's present, which had a black rose on it, and left the room. Her watch glimmered in the sunlight as we read, 5:12.
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Back in the Tendo household, Ranma sneezed a couple of times. He was certain that something horrible was going to happen that day. Goose bumps rolled down his spine as he thought of what could happen. He mentally steeled himself. 'What must happen, will happen,' thought Ranma nobly. He just hoped that not too much of it would happen to him. With that, he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, (where he was at that precise moment) and tugged at his bow tie. Akane was good at tying the bow, he had to admit. One of the few things that she was good at, and didn't kill in the process of making it look right. He sighed sorrowfully as he walked out and made his way downstairs in a suit.
There is a certain thing about the Ranmaverse that keeps bringing a big bunch of coincidences together at exactly the same time. Now, some of these things happen because of some manipulative mind. Some things happen because they turn out that way. And some things happen because the character secretly wishes them to happen. After all, this IS the Ranmaverse. Anything could happen, anything.
Kasumi hummed a small song as she darted around the kitchen from here to there. The temperature had dropped down to a few degrees and was getting colder. Her new and white Christmas apron looked spotless, even though she had been wearing it for some time now. The brosterized chicken was ready, and the sweet and sour sauce was happily boiling away in the sauce pan. A turkey was being baked in the oven and was smelling just... like any of Kasumi's dishes. Perfect. The boiled and peeled potatoes were ready to be mashed and the ingredients for the gravy was on the kitchen's cutting board.
Kasumi smiled as she thought of everything that would happen today. It was bound to be something different. After all, it was Christmas. Unknown to the rest of the family, she took out a sprig of mistletoe and put it on the top of the kitchen door. Sometimes, you just have to give Fate a helping hand.
At precisely 5:15, Shampoo burst into the Tendo household, ready to deliver Ranma's present and intoxicate him with her special perfume.
"Nihau!" shouted Shampoo to the empty hallway. "Merry Christmas to airen!" Ranma peeked around the doorway to the living room and gulped nervously. He silently sent up a prayer asking for help so that he could survive the day.
Shampoo's predatory eyes lit up on Ranma.
"Ohh," said Shampoo as she walked sexily over to him. Her hips were swinging in time to some jazzy rhythm that only she could hear. Her already tight dress seemed to taunt Ranma mentally. She put her present on the floor before she hugged Ranma, moving her body against his. Her arms snaked up around Ranma's neck and absently played with his pigtail as he stayed still, doing quite a good impression of deer caught in the headlights. Shampoo waited a minute before she moved up to try to kiss Ranma. With luck, her special perfume was already working on Ranma.
'It's working!!!' thought Shampoo excitedly. 'Finally, airen be mine.' Before she could make another move on Ranma though, Ukyou walked into the room. Her normal happy go lucky, I'm the cute fiancee smile froze and broke off from her face.
"Why, you Chinese bimbo," she whispered under her breath. She immediately put her present on the floor and jumped at Shampoo, a giant spatula appearing as if by magic in her hands. Shampoo felt Ukyou's presence and quickly pushed Ranma back before blocking Ukyou's swipe with her trademark pair of bonbori that she had stowed away... somewhere on her person.
Ranma quickly and quietly slipped away, leaving the ladies fighting in the hallway before they took it out on the yard. Meanwhile, Akane Tendo was upstairs, just sitting on her bed, looking at the snow on the ground. Dr. Tofu was coming, as well as Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi and Daisuke. She heard the sound of battle downstairs and sighed. She mentally included into the list all of Ranma's other fiancees. And Mousse and Cologne, probably Happosai would drop by tonight, with Pantyhose running after him. She sighed sadly. It was Christmas, and she felt so lonely. She hadn't ever felt this lonely since Ranma had crashed into her life, but now she felt extremely lonely.
'Pull yourself together!' she told herself. 'Why stay around here, when I could be downstairs... cooking supper!' She immediately brightened up and ran downstairs, past Ranma who was slowly tip toeing up the stairs and straight into the kitchen. Ranma froze. Akane had just run by, and had disappeared into the kitchen! 'Oh, no!' he thought silently. 'Akane's cooking!!!' He crept up to his room, as quietly as possible, when Nabiki came by and looked at him oddly.
"Hello, Ranma." she said. "Why are you tip toeing around like that?" she asked, a sarcastic smile on her face.
"Um, uh, I uh, was practicing! Yeah, practicing, a new technique!!!" said Ranma, quite proud of himself. After all, there was no need to tell Nabiki that this new technique consisted of getting away from all the crazed ladies in the yard fighting around and Akane's cooking.
"O.K." said Nabiki. She smiled. "I'll tell Akane that you went out and that you'll be back in time to welcome our guests, right?" With that she left before he had a chance to say anything. He was just about to shout from exasperation and run after her when he heard another sound.
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" Ranma shivered. There was only one person he knew who laughed like that. He wouldn't dare raise his voice now, lest the girls noticed him. 'This really stinks.' he thought to himself. He once again started going up the stairs, when all of a sudden he heard a sudden 'POOF!' and Akane's screams. He was just about to run and see what was happening, when he heard Kasumi say, "Oh, my!" and the sound of a fire extinguisher. Ranma hid himself and saw a flustered Akane being gently pushed out of the kitchen by Kasumi's gentle hands. She look confused before she ran to get a towel and took it back to the kitchen. After a while, Akane's shouts rang from the house as she struggled to prepare a salad. Ranma shuddered, hoping that the salad would turn out half way edible.
Meanwhile, outside...
"Why stupid spatula girl here?" asked an annoyed Shampoo. "Everything go well until you come. Now Shampoo kill!"
"Look who's talking, sugar!" said Ukyou angrily. "What were you doing to my Ran-chan!"
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" laughed Kodachi. "None of you are worthy of my dear Ranma-sama. I will forever smite you and take Ranma-sama as my own!!!!"
"That's what you think, sugar!" said Ukyou.
"Stupid ribbon girl going to die also!" said Shampoo. With that, the three leapt at each other and started their battle. Kodachi threw off her kimono which happened to land on a hiding Mousse in the bushes and wiped out her ribbon, twirling it in every direction. Shampoo wiped out her bonbori and dodged Ukyou's shuriken spatulas while trying to clobber Kodachi on the head. Ukyou tried to slice Kodachi's ribbon into little bits with her shuriken, while trying to knock of Shampoo's bonboris. All in all, it was quite messy.
It was to this scene that Cologne arrived. She sighed with exasperation as she watched the battle. Trust trouble to follow wherever Shampoo went. Talking about trouble, she spied Mousse jumping from the bushes and charging into the fight with a kimono stuck to his shoe, which made him trip. He finally threw it of and jumped into the battle, shouting, "Don't worry Shampoo! I will protect you!"
"Stupid Mousse! Why you help stupid spatula girl?" shouted an angry Shampoo as he took the bonbori on the head that was meant for Ukyou.
"Oh, Shampoo! I am here to protect you!" said Mousse as he hugged Kodachi. That gave Ukyou the opening she was looking for and belted Kodachi out of there with her huge metal spatula, with Mousse latched on to her.
"Now, sugar, it's just us!" said Ukyou with a wicked smile.
"Shampoo no forgive spatula girl, but glad spatula girl get rid of blind duck-boy and stupid ribbon girl. Now we fight! Hiyaaaaa!" she shouted as she leapt at Ukyou with her bonbori.
Cologne sighed. She pogoed pass them and into the house. She had more important things to do than to interfere into a fight between the two. She passed the kitchen, wondering what the awful racket was and what was burning, knowing for sure it couldn't be Kasumi. Kasumi was gentler and she wouldn't burn things. She sneaked a peak into the room. Kasumi was there, but she looked a little uptight. Cologne saw that she had a good reason also. Akane had somehow gotten the vegetables in the bowl on fire. Probably the oil she had spiked the vegetables with the bottle that was beside her. And probably the small red bottle near her also that looked half used up. She shuddered at the sight and left. Now to find son-in-law. She cackled gleefully. She nodded a hi to Kasumi who acknowledged her and then focused her attention back to the fire that was threatening to burn her chicken.
Cologne went on and soon found Ranma crawling ever so slowly to the front door, where nothing interesting was happening.
"Hello, son-in-law!" she said.
"AHHHH!" shouted Ranma.
"Shush, boy!" said Cologne. "You don't want anyone to know you're here, right?" Mutely, Ranma nodded, a panicked look entering his face. Cologne shook her head. "And here you are, in a tux and crawling on the floor. How pathetic."
"Hey!" said Ranma, insulted. Then he remembered his position and looked around worriedly.
"I'll cut you a deal," said Cologne. "If you promise to marry Shampoo, I won't tell Akane that you think her cooking can be used as nuclear warfare weaponry."
"Hey, I never said that!" said Ranma indignantly.
"She'd probably believe me more than she would you." said Cologne. "Anyway, I just came for this." She reached over and grabbed a few of Ranma's hairs and then pogoed away, laughing evilly.
'That was weird', thought Ranma. Then he froze. 'Oh no! She is going to make a voodoo doll of me and force me to marry Shampoo!' He ran after her thinking, 'I can't let her!' He forgot all about the girls fighting in the back yard, or that Akane was in the kitchen. He leapt on top of buildings so that he could catch up to her.
Cologne was extremely excited. Still, she had to be cautious. She took the hairs and pulled out a bottle of perfume that she had taken from her cupboard. She stopped and viciously shook it, when all of a sudden, she felt Ranma behind her. She looked back, and sure enough, there he was. He had a determined look on his face as he ran toward her. Panic seized Cologne for a few seconds before she ran. Those few seconds caused her hands to become slightly slippery, causing the bottle of perfume to slip from her fingers while she was running. Ranma saw something glinting in the afternoon sun and quickly dived forward to try to catch it before it fell. Obviously, it was something important to Cologne, and he wouldn't let her get it.
"No!" said Cologne as she tried to stop as fast as she could. (Which was a little hard on her stick.)
"Ha!" said Ranma as his hands grabbed the small bottle and promptly turned and ran away as fast as he could. 'Now the old ghoul won't be able to force me to marry Shampoo! However this small bottle is supposed to do that' thought Ranma. He looked behind and saw Cologne running after him. He quickly sped up and hoped against hope that she wouldn't catch up, although he knew for certain that she would. He racked his brains, trying to think of a solution while he jumped over houses and rounded corners in a dizzying manner. 'I have to get rid of the bottle,' thought Ranma. 'That way, even if she catches up to me, she won't get it. But who could I trust?' He mentally ticked off the people he knew. 'Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi, Daisuke? Naw, they won't be able to defend themselves from Cologne. Besides, I don't know where they are. Someone at the house. Father or Uncle Soun? No way! Father would probably give it back to her for something stupid. Kasumi? No, too innocent. Nabiki? No, she'd probably charge me 3,000,000 yen or something. That leaves Akane. At least, Akane won't give it up so easily. Yeah! I'll give it to Akane!' With that brilliant plan, Ranma raced to the Tendo household, with Cologne coming closer and closer to him every second as the snow started to fall on Nerima.
Akane looked proudly at her handy work. It was a brilliant and beautiful lettuce and tomato salad. Actually, it wasn't brilliant, and definitely not beautiful, since her homemade spicy sauce she made last year in Home Ec had been too strong. So the lettuce turned out slightly pink and the tomatoes had burst open, splattering everywhere and jumping into the fire, causing the fire to sizzle and die out, but she was sure it was very edible. Of course, all of these mishaps could be blamed on the people who were fighting in the back yard. I mean, who can concentrate with that awefull racket they were making? Still, Ranma would love it, she was sure of it! 'Why in the world am I thinking about that jerk?' asked Akane to herself. 'He's extremely insensitive has an ego the size of the universe and was the most awful fiancee anyone could have asked for.' Still, she wanted him to try her salad out.
Since she had been so into her thoughts, she didn't notice till to late what had happened. Kasumi had walked out to the yard and was now talking to them.
"Hello, Shampoo, Ukyou, Kodachi, Mousse!" she said brightly to the fighters.
"Um, hi Kasumi!" said Ukyou while keeping an eye on Shampoo.
"Nihao, Kasumi," said Shampoo. "What you want?"
"Well, I was wondering if you would like to spend dinner with us." said Kasumi. "We have quite a bit of food!"
"Spend time with airen?" asked Shampoo as her face brightened into a huge smile. "No need ask. Of course Shampoo attend! Shampoo even make too too delicious ramen!" 'Now I be close to airen and make airen fall in love with Shampoo!' she thought to herself.
"Butt out of this, Shampoo!" shouted Ukyou before putting on a cute smile. "Thanks Kasumi. Don't worry, I'll help and make some special okonomiyakis for all of you!" 'I better go to the bathroom and put on my special perfume,' thought Ukyou wickedly.
"OHOHOHOHOHO!" said Kodachi as she stood up. "I will of course attend and take care of my dear Ranma-sama! I will also call Sazuke to bring some food." 'And before tonight is over, Ranma will be mine!' Mousse got up and rubbed his head in the place where Shampoo had struck him.
"If Shampoo goes, then I too shall go!" said Mousse with fierce determination. Inside, he thought, 'I will be able to show Shampoo how much I love her! And then she'll fall in love with me!' He smiled happily as he followed the rest of the ladies inside. As Kasumi walked inside, Nabiki pulled her aside and whispered something to her quietly. Kasumi nodded and walked over to the kitchen.
"Kasumi," said Akane who had heard what Kasumi had said to the girls. "Why did you invite them?"
"Cheer up, Akane," said Kasumi. "It's Christmas time after all, and we have to show some holiday cheer."
"Still, they'll end up glomping on Ranma and ruining our 'family time'", grumbled Akane. Kasumi smiled cheerfully as she laid the food out carefully.
"Oh, and Nabiki said that Ranma went out to do something." said Kasumi. "Could you go out and look for him to make sure he can receive our guests? He already missed Ukyou, Shampoo, Mousse and Kodachi."
"Why do I have to go look for that jerk?" asked Akane crossly.
"Because everyone else is busy," said Kasumi. "... and you already finished cooking." Akane sighed and went to her room to put on a coat since it had started to snow some time ago.
'Baka,' she thought as she trudged down the stairs. 'Why do I have to go out looking for him. And I wanted to help make mashed potatoes.' She walked outside and not knowing where to look, just started walking. She sighed as she strained her ears. Normally, he'd probably at Ucchans or at the Nekohanten, but they were at her place and their restaurants would probably be closed. She walked around and then heard some pounding footsteps, but she couldn't tell where they were from. She checked her watch. She had been looking for him for about fifteen minutes and her patience was wearing thin.
"RANMA!!!!! WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU????!!!" she shouted, not caring if anyone thought her weird or noisy. Ranma, who was a few blocks away heard her shout and quickly ran towards the voice, hoping that she didn't walk somewhere else. 'Almost there,' he thought. 'Just have to keep her of my back.' He looked back to see how Cologne was fairing. She had a determined look to her face. Ranma had to get to Akane, and quick.
Akane started to walk back to the Dojo. 'He probably chickened out because he didn't want to receive our guests. How like him!' she thought. She heard the footsteps again, louder this time. She turned around just as Ranma turned the corner, running extremely fast. He quickly shoved in her hand a bottle of perfume.
"SorrygottagoDon'tlettheoldghoulgetthebottle,explaintoyoulaterbye!" he said quickly as he ran by her. Akane quickly pocketed the bottle and stared as Cologne turned the corner split seconds after Ranma had. She pounced on him and he fell forward, which resulted in a mini fight.
"Give me back the bottle, Son in law!"
"Never!"
"You'll regret it, boy! Now give it back!"
"You're crazy!"
Akane watched them for a while before shouting out to Ranma, "Ranma, remember that you have to welcome our guests!!" With that, she turned around and walked back to the Dojo, hoping his tux wouldn't be ruined to badly.
Shampoo quietly sneaked out of the kitchen and tip toed to the bathroom. She entered and closed the door lightly and locked it. No need for everyone to know what she was doing. She took out her bottle and sprayed it generously on herself. She smiled. She had almost gotten Ranma last time. This time, she wouldn't lose. She was still spraying some on her wrists and neck and everywhere else when there was a knock on the door.
"Shampoo almost finish!" she said as she quickly capped her bottle and slipped it into her pocket. She spied a window and quickly opened and closed it quickly, hoping to get some of the perfume smell out. She then walked out and was surprised to see Ukyou, who looked just as surprised.
"Thanks, sugar," said Ukyou to Shampoo, while the two eyed each other suspiciously. Ukyou entered the bathroom and quickly locked the door. She reached into her pant pocket and took out her bottle of perfume. She wasn't going to give that Shampoo a chance to get Ranma. This way, Ranchan would be hers. Now, all she needed to do was to sit close to Ranma. She quickly sprayed it on. She tried to remember where perfume was usually sprayed. Under your armpits? No that was deodorant. Oh well, it didn't matter that much. She sprayed some on there and on her face and neck and arms and would have put on more had someone not knocked.
"Just a minute!" she shouted. She saw the window that Shampoo had accidentally left unbolted. She opened it and try to 'shoo' the smell out. She flushed the toilet and turned on the faucet for a bit so that no one would be too suspicious. She quickly closed the window, but it opened a little. Ukyou had no time to shut it better as Kodachi's voice came.
"Hurry up! Others have to use the bathroom!" Ukyou quickly opened the door and both stared at each other while they passed each other. Kodachi sneaked in and locked the door. She saw the half open window. She quickly opened it more and sprayed her perfume on and ended up using up the whole bottle. She sprayed some on her hair too. She just couldn't wait! Ranma- sama wouldn't know what had hit him. She smiled evilly. She took her time and ended up retouching her make up and fixing her hair. She walked out of the bathroom calmly, feeling like a giddy school girl. She left the window open, since that was how she found it. No need to arouse suspicion. Besides, the room needed airing. Soun entered some minutes later and shivered slightly from the cold as he bolted the window. Who was crazy enough to open the window in this weather?
The guests were beginning to arrive. Ranma and Cologne were still battling. Ranma had somehow moved it closer to the Dojo's entrance, so as the people started to come, he would call out to them, as he was supposed to, "Welcome. Go on in, supper will be ready soon!" Akane watched form her bedroom window and sighed. Ranma was hopeless. She took out of her pocket the bottle that Ranma had pushed into her hand. It was a small bottle of Chinese perfume.
'What's so special about this perfume?' she wondered as she studied it carefully. She carefully uncapped the bottle and wafted it, in case it was some toxic poison that Cologne was planning to use. No, it smelled really good. Unless, of course, it was one of those delayed action thing a ma bobs. She put it on her desk so that she could see it so that she could give it back to Ranma later on. Her new bottle of perfume which she had bought for herself was beside it. She heard Kasumi call that dinner was ready and went down wondering, why Ranma was keeping perfume from Cologne.
As everyone went to the table, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi made a bee line for the seats beside the place where Ranma usually sat. Ranma looked nervously as he realized what they were up to. Hurriedly he looked around, hoping to see a way out. At that moment, Hiroshi and Daisuke came in, opening the door to Yuka and Sayuri. A brilliant idea struck him square in the head as he looked beseechingly at the guys.
"Hey guys! Hiroshi, Daisuke, come in! Here are your seats! He quickly showed them to the two beside his place.
"Hey Ranma! Merry Christmas to you too!" they said. The trio of girls glared at each other and tried to get as close to Ranma as they could. Dr. Tofu entered the house and sat down right across from Ranma just as Shampoo turned in that direction. She snapped her fingers.
"H, H, Hello, K, k, k, Kasumi! Wha, what a surprise, to to to se se, see you here!" said the doctor as Kasumi came out of the kitchen with the food.
"Why hello, Dr. Tofu." said Kasumi with a smile on her face. "Merry Christmas!"
"Oh, yes, Me, me, merry Chri, christmas, Kasumi!" he said to Ranma, who was sitting across from him. He then started to talk to Ukyo, who was sitting on his right. "I didn't realize it was Christmas, Miss Kodachi!" he said. Ukyo sighed. It was going to be a long night. She hoped the perfume wasn't too strong as she seemed to be able to smell it everywhere.
Dinner was O.K. Kasumi's cooking turned out just like always, perfect. It would have been perfect except for the extremely sweet perfume he kept on smelling and the surprise dish that Akane had made. Akane's cooking was the same as always... which is to say, not too good. Akane stood up and went inside to the kitchen and brought out a glass bowl that looked sort of... odd.
'It's a weird looking glass bowl,' thought Ranma to himself. And indeed, it was very weird. The sides were extremely wavy and the glass looked like it had air bubbles that popped, leaving behind a small round imprint, giving it it's abnormal shape. And what was weirder than that, were the vegetables? inside of it. It seemed like a lettuce and tomato salad, except of course, that it was all red.
"Um, what is that?" asked Ranma nervously, knowing deep inside that he would have to take a bite out of that aweful... whatever it was.
"It's salad, baka!" said Akane crossly as she set the bowl down. Kasumi brought out some styrofoam bowls.
"Here, Akane," she said with a pained smile.
"Thanks, Kasumi!" said Akane happily. She took a metal spoon and scooped out a generous portion. Everyone winced inwardly when the metal started to steam and turn black, as if something acidic had touched it. She dumped it into the bowl and set it in front of Ranma.
"Here, Ranma! Try some!" she said with a happy smile. Ranma looked at his bowl. The tomatos started to steam and as he poked them around, he noticed that they seemed to have melted the styrofoam, leaving behind little imprints of semi spheres. He moved them around so as to not have them burn a hole through the plastic with his wooden chopsticks. He winced as the chopsticks themselves started to look a bit...brown.
'That explains the curious shape of the bowl,' he thought to himself. He was feeling very weird. Almost as if he were watching himself look at the bowl of 'vegetables'. He heard Shampoo speak.
"Stupid tomboy no poison husband!" she said in her broken Japanese. Everything slowed down as Akane and Shampoo had a staring contest. Finally, Akane got a wicked smile on her face.
"Oh, Shampoo!" she said with a false smile. Shampoo started to get nervous. Akane usually didn't act like that. "I didn't know you loved Ranma so much that you would eat whatever he eats. Here, be my guest!" And with that, she scooped three full spoons of salad into another bowl and set it in front of Shampoo. A stunned Shampoo looked at her bowl of red stuff that steamed. "Anyone else want some more?" asked Akane with a hint of menace in her voice. Ukyo and Kodachi who had looked like they wanted to lash out at Akane, immediatly shut up and looked down at their plates. Akane smiled at Shampoo before turning back her attention on Ranma. She knew how they hated her cooking, but she hoped Ranma would like it. Besides, if Shampoo had something in her mouth, then she wouldn't talk as much.
"Well, Ranma?" she asked. "Why don't you try some? I'm sure you'll like it!" She looked extremely hopeful. Ranma sighed and tried to muster up his courage to put 'it' into his mouth. Behind Akane, he could see his father holding one of his panda sign's even though he was not one in his current state. The sign said, Be a man, Try her cooking He then switched it over. Love always touches ones heart flip Go on boy, eat up!
Ranma took a bit of the lettuce? in his chopstick and slowly brought it up to his mouth. Everybody watched him silently. Shampoo, Kodachi and Ukyo were all fretting since they didn't want Ranma to die on them before they tried out their new perfume on him. Nabiki watched expectantly, wanting to know how much Ranma could take before he had to run to the bathroom or sink. Kasumi had a small smile on her face, the same as always. Soun and Genma looked the same as always. Soun behind his newspaper and Genma stuffing his face. Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi and Daisuke looked on with amasement in their eyes. They knew how bad Akane's cooking was and were surprised that Ranma might eat it. Tofu was talking to Betty, who he just happened to bring. Yuka spoke up to try to break the tension.
"Hey, Akane!" she said. "That looks extremely... different! What is in it?" Hopefully, if they knew the ingredients, the tension in the room would lessen. Akane beamed a huge smile at her.
'Finally!' she thought. 'Someone who appreciates my cooking!' She spoke out loud. "Well, it's the normal lettuce and tomato salad..." she began.
'Yeah right!' thought Ranma. 'If that's normal, I'm the green easter bunny from Mars!' Akane continued on.
"...but since it looked a little boring, I decided to add something to spice it up. I added tofu, bean sprouts, three dollops of honey, two table spoons of barbecue sauce, three cups of viniger and two spoonfulls of coffee beans, three cups of chopped liver and strawberries, celery, eggplant..."
Ranma and everybody else got greener and greener at the mention of each new ingredient.
"...and finally," said Akane. "I drained most of the liquid before I used some of the spice sauce we made in Home Economics class." It took a while for Sayuri's brain to register that piece of information.
"But," she said. "You're not taking Home Ec. this year. Yuka and I are, but you arent'." Yuka nodded.
"Right!" said Akane. "But I was there last year. Remember the chili and avocado sauce the teacher had us do to put on our Mexican food?" A few nods from Yuka and Sayuri. "Well, I didn't feel like wasting it, so I decided to save it for a special occasion. I put most of it into the salad! Don't you think that that was a clever idea!?!?" asked Akane cheerfully. Everyone paled considerably. Who knows what might have happened to chili and avocado sauce a la Akane after one year who knows where!? Ranma sighed and knew he was doomed. Doomed, doomed, doomed, doomed. Doomed in capital letters, etc. etc.
'Might as well get it over with,' he thought resignedly. He slowly brought the chopsticks up and put it into his mouth. Strange emotions flashed through him, flavors playing havoc with his senses, especially his tounge. For a minute, he could almost taste individually everything that Akane had put into it. Funny, he didn't remember Akane saying that she had put in mustard and peanuts blended with apple. His head whirled and he felt himself put his chopsticks down on top of his bowl, sign that he didn't want anymore. He saw people standing up and crying out something he couldn't quite make out for it sounded distorted. He noticed things subconciously, like the smile that was on Akane's face, the shape of the tomato on his bowl, the extremely sweet smell that seemed to be everywhere, the same as Shampoo's perfume. He could also smell it on Ukyo and Kodachi, he thought. He saw his life flash before his eyes and said the only thing he could think of.
"Uncute....tomboy!" he said as he stood up shakily. Akane's face turned from happy to furious.
"Ranma no baka!!!" she shouted, hoping nobody noticed the tears that fell from her eyes. She moved her hand in a specific way and summoned her hammer, the biggest one they had seen yet. With all of her strenght she hit him, sending him straight into the kitchen. Her mallet dissappeared as she turned from the table and ran up the stairs to her room. Shampoo looked dubiously at her plate and while everyone was distracted, she dumped it back into the glass bowl. Retching sounds could be heard from the kitchen as Kasumi and Dr. Tofu ran into the kitchen to see what had happened. That was obviously the wrong thing to do since Dr. Tofu promptly lost it and Kasumi had to be gently taken out of the kitchen by Ukyo and Kodachi so that Ranma could be properly examined. The rest of the people shrugged and kept on with eating their supper, carefull to not eat any vegetable from the bowl. After all, this was pretty normal in the Tendo household. Ranma went out of the kitchen looking slightly pale from his near encounter with death and acted like nothing had happened by beggining to start shoveling food into his mouth. Only Kasumi had noticed Akane's pained expression as she flew up to her room. She worried inwardly over Akane and after she had cleaned things up, she went to Akane's room. After dinner had finished, she invited the guests to join them as they went Christmas caroling. Her invitation was accepted with great enthusiasm by the three fiancees and Tofu who promptly strapped Betty on his back and started to do an irish jig by the door to the kitchen while singing 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star'. Everyone else looked at the ones who accepted and promptly declined, saying that they were going home. Nabiki, Ranma, Soun and Genma went to their rooms to bundle up against the cold. Ukyo, wanting to prove that she was the best fiance for Ranma volenteered to do the dishes. Shampoo and Kodachi glared at her and promptly volunteered also, although Shampoo concentrated on drying the dishes.
Kasumi walked softly to Akane's door and put her ear on the door, trying to find out if Akane was alright. She heard some small sobs, but it seemed like she had calmed down. She knocked softly on the door.
"Who is it?" asked Akane from inside as she tried to control her sniffs.
"It's me, Kasumi." she said softly.
"Come in." answered Akane. The door opened slightly and Kasumi slipped in and quickly shut the door after her. The room was dark, since Akane hadn't turned the lights on. Kasumi turned on the desk lamp. The light softly colered the room. Akane was on her bed, the sheets and pillows in disarray. Her eyes were slightly red, evidence that she had been crying for a small while.
"Hey, Akane," said Kasumi softly. "We'll be leaving to go Christmas caroling soon. Why don't you get ready?"
"I don't feel like going," said Akane sullenly. Kasumi looked at her with her warm eyes. Suddenly Akane sat up on her bed. "Am I such an aweful cook?" she asked. Kasumi thought about it for a while. She sat down beside Akane and hugged her.
"No, you're not aweful," said Kasumi. "but you aren't that good either." Akane sighed and her shoulders slumped. It was as if she had almost expected that to be said. Kasumi kept on talking. "Sure, perhaps cooking is not for you, but that doesn't mean you'll never learn. What is important is to keep on trying."
"But I always try and try and try," said Akane. "And it never comes out right. He always hates it. I can tell by reading his eyes. And yet, I always try, perhaps, I might..."
"Akane," said Kasumi. "I'm sure he appreciates what you do for him. But you have to understand that just because he can't swallow it, he doesn't appreciate it. And there are many things you can do very well."
"Like?" asked Akane. "I can't sew. Even a scarf ends up looking like a rag. I'm not as good as they are in martial arts. They are faster, and stronger, better cooks... things that Ranma seems to like, I'm not good at!"
"Perhaps you're not as good in those areas," said Kasumi. "but you have your own gifts and talents. You're a great actress."
"So is Ranma." said Akane sullenly.
"You persevere, no matter how the odds are against you. You lifted daddy's heart after mom's loss by giving him a reason to live when you started to get interested in martial arts. Perhaps Nabiki's ways are a little under handed, but you two make a good profit that keeps the house going. And you know what else?"
Akane had started to look a bit better and was hugging Kasumi back.
"What?" asked Akane.
"You have the best voice I've ever heard and you are my little sister." Kasumi smiled at Akane as Akane hugged her harder.
"Thanks, Kasumi," she said. "You really helped me a lot."
"No problem," said Kasumi. "Now, what are you going to wear?"
"Um, I haven't thought about it." said Akane. "I was planning on a pair of jeans and a jacket."
"But we're going caroling!" said Kasumi. She opened Akane's dresser and looked through her clothes. "Here, how about these?" She held up a pants and shirt combo. The pants were a dark jungle green pair of jeans with a pair of cherries embroidered on the pockets. The shirt was a white blouse with a collar.
"I'd probably end up freezing if I wore just that," said Akane as she got up of her bed and grabbed a half hidden winter coat with a hood. It was red with gold trim.
"Oh," said Kasumi. "That's Sayuri and Yuka's Christmas present, right?"
"Yeah," said Akane. "It'll be the first time I wear it. I like how it looks." She quickly dressed and put on a pair of low heeled black boots.
"And to finish," said Kasumi. She saw the bottle of perfume on top of Akane's desk and grabbed that. She uncapped it and sprayed a bit on Akane. "It smells very nice, don't you think, Akane?"
"Yeah," said Akane. She turned around as Kasumi put the bottle back. "Thanks Kasumi. Now go and get dressed." Kasumi smiled and left the room, glad that her sister was feeling better. She quickly went to her room and got ready. Akane smiled as she heard her older sister whistle cheerfully once again. She sat in front of her mirror and carefully brushed it. She left the the room, with out looking at the bottles of perfume.
Akane went down to the dining room once more, feeling more composed. Kasumi had been right, there were things that she could do. Unfortunatly, she couldn't think of them now. 'It doesn't matter,' she thought. 'I'll remember them soon enough!' She went downstairs and started to gather all the plates. In the middle of the table was the warped glass bowl. She blinked back a few tears as she took the bowl to the kitchen, where she promptly dumped its contents in a plastic bag right before throwing that into the trashcan. 'There goes that,' she thought, almost sadly. Still, one had to buck up and smile...which she tried to do. She quickly went outside where she gathered more bowls and plates to take in to the kitchen.
Ranma came down after changing clothes. He had changed from his tux into something more comfortable. He wore his blue chinese shirt and black pants. He wore a black jacket over the shirt. As he looked at Akane, he felt a little sad. For some reason, he understood that she hadn't meant to poison him and he felt bad for calling her uncute. He went down and quietly helped her put away the dishes. The two worked silently, each thinking silently. 'She isn't mad at me, she isn't yelling either.' thought Ranma. 'I wonder if she's o.k.' Meanwhile, Akane's thoughts...'He hasn't insulted my cooking yet. Wonder what's wrong with him.'
"Hey, Akane," said Ranma quietly. There was a sweet smell in the air it seemed.
"Yes?" asked Akane as she turned to face him. 'Gosh, she looks good in that,' thought Ranma. 'Almost, kawaii.'
"Thanks for making me the salad." Ranma heard himself say. "I'm sorry I didn't finish it and that I called you an uncute tomboy." Akane was suprised to say the least. She blushed a little.
"You're...umh...uh...welcome," she whispered quietly as she gave him a smile. Ranma felt himself blush as he looked at her smile. 'Yep,' he thought. 'She definately looks cute.'
Author's Notes...
Well, that's it for now... I was planning for it to be a one shot, but then decided to post it like this.... I have a major writer's block.... (ouch!!) C&C would be extremely welcome, so send away, please????
Hope you enjoyed the story. I'm an R/A person, can you tell? Don't kill me, pleas? (again...) Oh, BTW, the story was started by Asayogure-san (like the first two or three paragraphs) and I wrote the rest. It was part of a competition... anyway, I know it's a Christmas story and that Christmas just passed, but I decided to post it now... I know, I'm weird...
Well, till next time...
Hotaru Kimiko Lai
"If it weren't for last minutes, nothing would get done." --Anonymous
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Begin.
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The sounds of Christmas music playing on the family stereo filtered up into Kasumi's room. Merrily she hummed to herself as she put on her outfit for the day. Christmas eve was today, and there was a lot to do.
"Hold still will you." Akane muttered to Ranma as he squirmed under her. "How am I supposed to tie this thing on you if you won't hold still?" Akane admonished him. Reluctantly Ranma stopped squirming.
"Why do I gotta wear this dumb thing anyway Akane?" Ranma whined. "I only get dressed up for important stuff, not silly things like this." Ranma muttered, and received a sharp smack to the back of his head.
"Idiot. Christmas IS important stuff. Now hold STILL!" Akane said as she jerked Ranma back by his bow tie. She moved his ever so present pigtail out of the way.
"OUCH!" said Ranma as he felt some of his hair get snagged with her fingers as she tied.
"Sorry!" she said as she silently hummed a Christmas Carol. She smiled happily. Today, the Tendo and Saotome families would spend some time together and go out caroling and watch a movie at the theater after supper and then come home and decorate the Christmas tree. It was family time. Which meant, no annoying fiancees. No one to cause a scene. How perfect could that be? 'Too perfect, probably.' thought Akane to herself. Still, one can always hope.
"Why do I have to dress up and nobody else?" whined Ranma for the eighteenth time. Akane sighed.
"We have gone over this a million times," she said as patiently as she could. Which is to say, not too patiently. "Because you and Uncle Genma are guests here, you have to welcome the visitors and Uncle Genma had to go buy a Christmas tree so that we can decorate it later tonight. It's downstairs in the living room, right now."
"I still don't think it's fair," said Ranma. "I mean, I can welcome them wearing my usual clothes can't I?" Akane sighed once more and counted to one hundred, hoping she would calm down before 'accidentally' choking him with his bow tie.
Downstairs the rest of the family, except for Nabiki, were hanging Christmas decorations and singing to themselves as they worked. Today just might be a relatively normal day in the Tendo
household . . . or maybe not. Looking at her clock, Nabiki smiled in anticipation of what was about to happen. Her camera was ready.
Earlier that week, Nabiki had thought up a plan. A perfect plan, that would help her earn some yen. After a little bit of investigating, she started it. Oh, what fun! She could just imagine the looks on their faces. She smiled evilly as she prepared her camera with a new roll of film and new batteries. She glanced at her desk clock. It was 5:10 with 30 seconds. The fun would start soon, very soon. Now, if only Ranma would cooperate...
**********
Ukyou looked into her full length mirror. She had changed into a deep green outfit. Tight pants slip up her legs and fit perfectly. It fit like second skin. The blouse came on next. It had a Peter Pan collar and was a lighter shade of green with embroidered cherries on her breast pocket. Her hair was put up in a high ponytail with a red bow. The reindeer shaped-earrings were next. "I hope Ran-chan likes them," she thought as her earrings were clipped on. There was no way she was going to pierce her ears. She looked at herself again in the mirror.
"Not bad, Ukyou," she thought. A loose red winter coat came on next and she finished her outfit with a pair of black boots. "Ranma, you better appreciate what I'm doing for you. I'll save you from those hussies myself!" With that, Ukyou grabbed her bottle of perfume. It had cost a lot, considering that she was buying it from Nabiki. "Love Potion, #5" said the bottle in Chinese. She might not know much Chinese, but she did recognize the character for love. She added one of Ranma's hairs into the bottle and shook it vigorously. "This will ensure that you'll fall in love with me. Ranma, you're mine. And we'll live happily ever after!" After 5 minutes, she sprayed herself with it. Her smile adorned her face as she grabbed a purse and Ranma's blue Christmas present. She left at exactly 5:12 in the morning.
**********
Elsewhere, in the Nekohanten, to be exact, Shampoo finished putting on the final touches to her outfit. Her infamous tight Chinese dress was just as immodest as her other dresses. Of course, this one was different. It was a Christmas style dress with white fur trimmings. The dress was made of deep red silk with light red embroidered dragons twisting all over it.
"Tonight, Ranma be Shampoo's... for ever," she thought, with a grin. She carefully tip toed to her door and locked it. It would do no good for her grandmother to know what she was doing. Especially, since it was one of her grandmother's most important tonics. She had replaced it with normal perfume, since her grandmother didn't have any reason to get it. She had even bought a little label and printed on it in Chinese characters, "Love Potion, #5" It was perfect. She would return the real bottle to the cupboard once she had caught Ranma.
She reached into her vanity case and brought it out. A small bottle of love potion. She reached into her apron pocket and brought our one of Ranma's hairs. It was quite lucky that Ranma came over to eat so many times. She dropped the hair into the bottle and shook it. She waited for five minutes and kissed it for good luck. After the five minutes, she sprayed some on. She dropped her perfume bottle into her small purse. As she left the restaurant, she picked up the red present by the door. 5:12.
Cologne watched as Shampoo sped away on her bike. She went into her cupboard and took out the bottle of "Love Potion, #5". She would make sure her son-in-law would go after Shampoo. After all, she wanted to go back to China for Chinese New Years.
**********
Kodachi Kuno looked at her new leotard. It was bright red, in the spirit of Christmas, but it still had her trademark sign on it, a black rose. It also had silver piping that accentuated the leotard at exactly the right place. She quickly put it on and admired herself in her mirror. Of course, it was better to call it wall, since her whole wall was a gigantic mirror. She then put on a kimono. It was made from the finest silk and was a dazzling white. A red obi decorated it and fit her perfectly. It was custom made and Kodachi had altered it a bit. Like the deep pockets inside it. Like the tightness of it that also accentuated her slim and taut body. If it weren't for the insane look on her face, she might have been considered cute.
"Ranma darling," she thought to herself as she reached into the kimono and brought out a small bottle of... Love Potion, #5. "Tonight, we will be wed. Me in my splendid kimono, and you in tight black spandex suit that will mark you as mine." She reached into her huge closet and pulled it out. The words on it were, "Kodachi's Property". She had made Sazuke translate the bottle for her, so that she could be sure it was a real love potion and not just normal perfume. She sighed with ecstasy as she imagined Ranma's sleek and muscled form in it. She gently folded it once more and put it away. From another pocket, she brought out a strand of hair. The bottle was opened and the hair dropped. After shaking it, Kodachi sprayed herself with it and tucked it into her pocket. It was quite expensive, especially since she had bought it from that... Nabiki. But any price was worth having Ranma as hers. She quickly picked up Ranma's present, which had a black rose on it, and left the room. Her watch glimmered in the sunlight as we read, 5:12.
**********
Back in the Tendo household, Ranma sneezed a couple of times. He was certain that something horrible was going to happen that day. Goose bumps rolled down his spine as he thought of what could happen. He mentally steeled himself. 'What must happen, will happen,' thought Ranma nobly. He just hoped that not too much of it would happen to him. With that, he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, (where he was at that precise moment) and tugged at his bow tie. Akane was good at tying the bow, he had to admit. One of the few things that she was good at, and didn't kill in the process of making it look right. He sighed sorrowfully as he walked out and made his way downstairs in a suit.
There is a certain thing about the Ranmaverse that keeps bringing a big bunch of coincidences together at exactly the same time. Now, some of these things happen because of some manipulative mind. Some things happen because they turn out that way. And some things happen because the character secretly wishes them to happen. After all, this IS the Ranmaverse. Anything could happen, anything.
Kasumi hummed a small song as she darted around the kitchen from here to there. The temperature had dropped down to a few degrees and was getting colder. Her new and white Christmas apron looked spotless, even though she had been wearing it for some time now. The brosterized chicken was ready, and the sweet and sour sauce was happily boiling away in the sauce pan. A turkey was being baked in the oven and was smelling just... like any of Kasumi's dishes. Perfect. The boiled and peeled potatoes were ready to be mashed and the ingredients for the gravy was on the kitchen's cutting board.
Kasumi smiled as she thought of everything that would happen today. It was bound to be something different. After all, it was Christmas. Unknown to the rest of the family, she took out a sprig of mistletoe and put it on the top of the kitchen door. Sometimes, you just have to give Fate a helping hand.
At precisely 5:15, Shampoo burst into the Tendo household, ready to deliver Ranma's present and intoxicate him with her special perfume.
"Nihau!" shouted Shampoo to the empty hallway. "Merry Christmas to airen!" Ranma peeked around the doorway to the living room and gulped nervously. He silently sent up a prayer asking for help so that he could survive the day.
Shampoo's predatory eyes lit up on Ranma.
"Ohh," said Shampoo as she walked sexily over to him. Her hips were swinging in time to some jazzy rhythm that only she could hear. Her already tight dress seemed to taunt Ranma mentally. She put her present on the floor before she hugged Ranma, moving her body against his. Her arms snaked up around Ranma's neck and absently played with his pigtail as he stayed still, doing quite a good impression of deer caught in the headlights. Shampoo waited a minute before she moved up to try to kiss Ranma. With luck, her special perfume was already working on Ranma.
'It's working!!!' thought Shampoo excitedly. 'Finally, airen be mine.' Before she could make another move on Ranma though, Ukyou walked into the room. Her normal happy go lucky, I'm the cute fiancee smile froze and broke off from her face.
"Why, you Chinese bimbo," she whispered under her breath. She immediately put her present on the floor and jumped at Shampoo, a giant spatula appearing as if by magic in her hands. Shampoo felt Ukyou's presence and quickly pushed Ranma back before blocking Ukyou's swipe with her trademark pair of bonbori that she had stowed away... somewhere on her person.
Ranma quickly and quietly slipped away, leaving the ladies fighting in the hallway before they took it out on the yard. Meanwhile, Akane Tendo was upstairs, just sitting on her bed, looking at the snow on the ground. Dr. Tofu was coming, as well as Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi and Daisuke. She heard the sound of battle downstairs and sighed. She mentally included into the list all of Ranma's other fiancees. And Mousse and Cologne, probably Happosai would drop by tonight, with Pantyhose running after him. She sighed sadly. It was Christmas, and she felt so lonely. She hadn't ever felt this lonely since Ranma had crashed into her life, but now she felt extremely lonely.
'Pull yourself together!' she told herself. 'Why stay around here, when I could be downstairs... cooking supper!' She immediately brightened up and ran downstairs, past Ranma who was slowly tip toeing up the stairs and straight into the kitchen. Ranma froze. Akane had just run by, and had disappeared into the kitchen! 'Oh, no!' he thought silently. 'Akane's cooking!!!' He crept up to his room, as quietly as possible, when Nabiki came by and looked at him oddly.
"Hello, Ranma." she said. "Why are you tip toeing around like that?" she asked, a sarcastic smile on her face.
"Um, uh, I uh, was practicing! Yeah, practicing, a new technique!!!" said Ranma, quite proud of himself. After all, there was no need to tell Nabiki that this new technique consisted of getting away from all the crazed ladies in the yard fighting around and Akane's cooking.
"O.K." said Nabiki. She smiled. "I'll tell Akane that you went out and that you'll be back in time to welcome our guests, right?" With that she left before he had a chance to say anything. He was just about to shout from exasperation and run after her when he heard another sound.
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" Ranma shivered. There was only one person he knew who laughed like that. He wouldn't dare raise his voice now, lest the girls noticed him. 'This really stinks.' he thought to himself. He once again started going up the stairs, when all of a sudden he heard a sudden 'POOF!' and Akane's screams. He was just about to run and see what was happening, when he heard Kasumi say, "Oh, my!" and the sound of a fire extinguisher. Ranma hid himself and saw a flustered Akane being gently pushed out of the kitchen by Kasumi's gentle hands. She look confused before she ran to get a towel and took it back to the kitchen. After a while, Akane's shouts rang from the house as she struggled to prepare a salad. Ranma shuddered, hoping that the salad would turn out half way edible.
Meanwhile, outside...
"Why stupid spatula girl here?" asked an annoyed Shampoo. "Everything go well until you come. Now Shampoo kill!"
"Look who's talking, sugar!" said Ukyou angrily. "What were you doing to my Ran-chan!"
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" laughed Kodachi. "None of you are worthy of my dear Ranma-sama. I will forever smite you and take Ranma-sama as my own!!!!"
"That's what you think, sugar!" said Ukyou.
"Stupid ribbon girl going to die also!" said Shampoo. With that, the three leapt at each other and started their battle. Kodachi threw off her kimono which happened to land on a hiding Mousse in the bushes and wiped out her ribbon, twirling it in every direction. Shampoo wiped out her bonbori and dodged Ukyou's shuriken spatulas while trying to clobber Kodachi on the head. Ukyou tried to slice Kodachi's ribbon into little bits with her shuriken, while trying to knock of Shampoo's bonboris. All in all, it was quite messy.
It was to this scene that Cologne arrived. She sighed with exasperation as she watched the battle. Trust trouble to follow wherever Shampoo went. Talking about trouble, she spied Mousse jumping from the bushes and charging into the fight with a kimono stuck to his shoe, which made him trip. He finally threw it of and jumped into the battle, shouting, "Don't worry Shampoo! I will protect you!"
"Stupid Mousse! Why you help stupid spatula girl?" shouted an angry Shampoo as he took the bonbori on the head that was meant for Ukyou.
"Oh, Shampoo! I am here to protect you!" said Mousse as he hugged Kodachi. That gave Ukyou the opening she was looking for and belted Kodachi out of there with her huge metal spatula, with Mousse latched on to her.
"Now, sugar, it's just us!" said Ukyou with a wicked smile.
"Shampoo no forgive spatula girl, but glad spatula girl get rid of blind duck-boy and stupid ribbon girl. Now we fight! Hiyaaaaa!" she shouted as she leapt at Ukyou with her bonbori.
Cologne sighed. She pogoed pass them and into the house. She had more important things to do than to interfere into a fight between the two. She passed the kitchen, wondering what the awful racket was and what was burning, knowing for sure it couldn't be Kasumi. Kasumi was gentler and she wouldn't burn things. She sneaked a peak into the room. Kasumi was there, but she looked a little uptight. Cologne saw that she had a good reason also. Akane had somehow gotten the vegetables in the bowl on fire. Probably the oil she had spiked the vegetables with the bottle that was beside her. And probably the small red bottle near her also that looked half used up. She shuddered at the sight and left. Now to find son-in-law. She cackled gleefully. She nodded a hi to Kasumi who acknowledged her and then focused her attention back to the fire that was threatening to burn her chicken.
Cologne went on and soon found Ranma crawling ever so slowly to the front door, where nothing interesting was happening.
"Hello, son-in-law!" she said.
"AHHHH!" shouted Ranma.
"Shush, boy!" said Cologne. "You don't want anyone to know you're here, right?" Mutely, Ranma nodded, a panicked look entering his face. Cologne shook her head. "And here you are, in a tux and crawling on the floor. How pathetic."
"Hey!" said Ranma, insulted. Then he remembered his position and looked around worriedly.
"I'll cut you a deal," said Cologne. "If you promise to marry Shampoo, I won't tell Akane that you think her cooking can be used as nuclear warfare weaponry."
"Hey, I never said that!" said Ranma indignantly.
"She'd probably believe me more than she would you." said Cologne. "Anyway, I just came for this." She reached over and grabbed a few of Ranma's hairs and then pogoed away, laughing evilly.
'That was weird', thought Ranma. Then he froze. 'Oh no! She is going to make a voodoo doll of me and force me to marry Shampoo!' He ran after her thinking, 'I can't let her!' He forgot all about the girls fighting in the back yard, or that Akane was in the kitchen. He leapt on top of buildings so that he could catch up to her.
Cologne was extremely excited. Still, she had to be cautious. She took the hairs and pulled out a bottle of perfume that she had taken from her cupboard. She stopped and viciously shook it, when all of a sudden, she felt Ranma behind her. She looked back, and sure enough, there he was. He had a determined look on his face as he ran toward her. Panic seized Cologne for a few seconds before she ran. Those few seconds caused her hands to become slightly slippery, causing the bottle of perfume to slip from her fingers while she was running. Ranma saw something glinting in the afternoon sun and quickly dived forward to try to catch it before it fell. Obviously, it was something important to Cologne, and he wouldn't let her get it.
"No!" said Cologne as she tried to stop as fast as she could. (Which was a little hard on her stick.)
"Ha!" said Ranma as his hands grabbed the small bottle and promptly turned and ran away as fast as he could. 'Now the old ghoul won't be able to force me to marry Shampoo! However this small bottle is supposed to do that' thought Ranma. He looked behind and saw Cologne running after him. He quickly sped up and hoped against hope that she wouldn't catch up, although he knew for certain that she would. He racked his brains, trying to think of a solution while he jumped over houses and rounded corners in a dizzying manner. 'I have to get rid of the bottle,' thought Ranma. 'That way, even if she catches up to me, she won't get it. But who could I trust?' He mentally ticked off the people he knew. 'Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi, Daisuke? Naw, they won't be able to defend themselves from Cologne. Besides, I don't know where they are. Someone at the house. Father or Uncle Soun? No way! Father would probably give it back to her for something stupid. Kasumi? No, too innocent. Nabiki? No, she'd probably charge me 3,000,000 yen or something. That leaves Akane. At least, Akane won't give it up so easily. Yeah! I'll give it to Akane!' With that brilliant plan, Ranma raced to the Tendo household, with Cologne coming closer and closer to him every second as the snow started to fall on Nerima.
Akane looked proudly at her handy work. It was a brilliant and beautiful lettuce and tomato salad. Actually, it wasn't brilliant, and definitely not beautiful, since her homemade spicy sauce she made last year in Home Ec had been too strong. So the lettuce turned out slightly pink and the tomatoes had burst open, splattering everywhere and jumping into the fire, causing the fire to sizzle and die out, but she was sure it was very edible. Of course, all of these mishaps could be blamed on the people who were fighting in the back yard. I mean, who can concentrate with that awefull racket they were making? Still, Ranma would love it, she was sure of it! 'Why in the world am I thinking about that jerk?' asked Akane to herself. 'He's extremely insensitive has an ego the size of the universe and was the most awful fiancee anyone could have asked for.' Still, she wanted him to try her salad out.
Since she had been so into her thoughts, she didn't notice till to late what had happened. Kasumi had walked out to the yard and was now talking to them.
"Hello, Shampoo, Ukyou, Kodachi, Mousse!" she said brightly to the fighters.
"Um, hi Kasumi!" said Ukyou while keeping an eye on Shampoo.
"Nihao, Kasumi," said Shampoo. "What you want?"
"Well, I was wondering if you would like to spend dinner with us." said Kasumi. "We have quite a bit of food!"
"Spend time with airen?" asked Shampoo as her face brightened into a huge smile. "No need ask. Of course Shampoo attend! Shampoo even make too too delicious ramen!" 'Now I be close to airen and make airen fall in love with Shampoo!' she thought to herself.
"Butt out of this, Shampoo!" shouted Ukyou before putting on a cute smile. "Thanks Kasumi. Don't worry, I'll help and make some special okonomiyakis for all of you!" 'I better go to the bathroom and put on my special perfume,' thought Ukyou wickedly.
"OHOHOHOHOHO!" said Kodachi as she stood up. "I will of course attend and take care of my dear Ranma-sama! I will also call Sazuke to bring some food." 'And before tonight is over, Ranma will be mine!' Mousse got up and rubbed his head in the place where Shampoo had struck him.
"If Shampoo goes, then I too shall go!" said Mousse with fierce determination. Inside, he thought, 'I will be able to show Shampoo how much I love her! And then she'll fall in love with me!' He smiled happily as he followed the rest of the ladies inside. As Kasumi walked inside, Nabiki pulled her aside and whispered something to her quietly. Kasumi nodded and walked over to the kitchen.
"Kasumi," said Akane who had heard what Kasumi had said to the girls. "Why did you invite them?"
"Cheer up, Akane," said Kasumi. "It's Christmas time after all, and we have to show some holiday cheer."
"Still, they'll end up glomping on Ranma and ruining our 'family time'", grumbled Akane. Kasumi smiled cheerfully as she laid the food out carefully.
"Oh, and Nabiki said that Ranma went out to do something." said Kasumi. "Could you go out and look for him to make sure he can receive our guests? He already missed Ukyou, Shampoo, Mousse and Kodachi."
"Why do I have to go look for that jerk?" asked Akane crossly.
"Because everyone else is busy," said Kasumi. "... and you already finished cooking." Akane sighed and went to her room to put on a coat since it had started to snow some time ago.
'Baka,' she thought as she trudged down the stairs. 'Why do I have to go out looking for him. And I wanted to help make mashed potatoes.' She walked outside and not knowing where to look, just started walking. She sighed as she strained her ears. Normally, he'd probably at Ucchans or at the Nekohanten, but they were at her place and their restaurants would probably be closed. She walked around and then heard some pounding footsteps, but she couldn't tell where they were from. She checked her watch. She had been looking for him for about fifteen minutes and her patience was wearing thin.
"RANMA!!!!! WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU????!!!" she shouted, not caring if anyone thought her weird or noisy. Ranma, who was a few blocks away heard her shout and quickly ran towards the voice, hoping that she didn't walk somewhere else. 'Almost there,' he thought. 'Just have to keep her of my back.' He looked back to see how Cologne was fairing. She had a determined look to her face. Ranma had to get to Akane, and quick.
Akane started to walk back to the Dojo. 'He probably chickened out because he didn't want to receive our guests. How like him!' she thought. She heard the footsteps again, louder this time. She turned around just as Ranma turned the corner, running extremely fast. He quickly shoved in her hand a bottle of perfume.
"SorrygottagoDon'tlettheoldghoulgetthebottle,explaintoyoulaterbye!" he said quickly as he ran by her. Akane quickly pocketed the bottle and stared as Cologne turned the corner split seconds after Ranma had. She pounced on him and he fell forward, which resulted in a mini fight.
"Give me back the bottle, Son in law!"
"Never!"
"You'll regret it, boy! Now give it back!"
"You're crazy!"
Akane watched them for a while before shouting out to Ranma, "Ranma, remember that you have to welcome our guests!!" With that, she turned around and walked back to the Dojo, hoping his tux wouldn't be ruined to badly.
Shampoo quietly sneaked out of the kitchen and tip toed to the bathroom. She entered and closed the door lightly and locked it. No need for everyone to know what she was doing. She took out her bottle and sprayed it generously on herself. She smiled. She had almost gotten Ranma last time. This time, she wouldn't lose. She was still spraying some on her wrists and neck and everywhere else when there was a knock on the door.
"Shampoo almost finish!" she said as she quickly capped her bottle and slipped it into her pocket. She spied a window and quickly opened and closed it quickly, hoping to get some of the perfume smell out. She then walked out and was surprised to see Ukyou, who looked just as surprised.
"Thanks, sugar," said Ukyou to Shampoo, while the two eyed each other suspiciously. Ukyou entered the bathroom and quickly locked the door. She reached into her pant pocket and took out her bottle of perfume. She wasn't going to give that Shampoo a chance to get Ranma. This way, Ranchan would be hers. Now, all she needed to do was to sit close to Ranma. She quickly sprayed it on. She tried to remember where perfume was usually sprayed. Under your armpits? No that was deodorant. Oh well, it didn't matter that much. She sprayed some on there and on her face and neck and arms and would have put on more had someone not knocked.
"Just a minute!" she shouted. She saw the window that Shampoo had accidentally left unbolted. She opened it and try to 'shoo' the smell out. She flushed the toilet and turned on the faucet for a bit so that no one would be too suspicious. She quickly closed the window, but it opened a little. Ukyou had no time to shut it better as Kodachi's voice came.
"Hurry up! Others have to use the bathroom!" Ukyou quickly opened the door and both stared at each other while they passed each other. Kodachi sneaked in and locked the door. She saw the half open window. She quickly opened it more and sprayed her perfume on and ended up using up the whole bottle. She sprayed some on her hair too. She just couldn't wait! Ranma- sama wouldn't know what had hit him. She smiled evilly. She took her time and ended up retouching her make up and fixing her hair. She walked out of the bathroom calmly, feeling like a giddy school girl. She left the window open, since that was how she found it. No need to arouse suspicion. Besides, the room needed airing. Soun entered some minutes later and shivered slightly from the cold as he bolted the window. Who was crazy enough to open the window in this weather?
The guests were beginning to arrive. Ranma and Cologne were still battling. Ranma had somehow moved it closer to the Dojo's entrance, so as the people started to come, he would call out to them, as he was supposed to, "Welcome. Go on in, supper will be ready soon!" Akane watched form her bedroom window and sighed. Ranma was hopeless. She took out of her pocket the bottle that Ranma had pushed into her hand. It was a small bottle of Chinese perfume.
'What's so special about this perfume?' she wondered as she studied it carefully. She carefully uncapped the bottle and wafted it, in case it was some toxic poison that Cologne was planning to use. No, it smelled really good. Unless, of course, it was one of those delayed action thing a ma bobs. She put it on her desk so that she could see it so that she could give it back to Ranma later on. Her new bottle of perfume which she had bought for herself was beside it. She heard Kasumi call that dinner was ready and went down wondering, why Ranma was keeping perfume from Cologne.
As everyone went to the table, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi made a bee line for the seats beside the place where Ranma usually sat. Ranma looked nervously as he realized what they were up to. Hurriedly he looked around, hoping to see a way out. At that moment, Hiroshi and Daisuke came in, opening the door to Yuka and Sayuri. A brilliant idea struck him square in the head as he looked beseechingly at the guys.
"Hey guys! Hiroshi, Daisuke, come in! Here are your seats! He quickly showed them to the two beside his place.
"Hey Ranma! Merry Christmas to you too!" they said. The trio of girls glared at each other and tried to get as close to Ranma as they could. Dr. Tofu entered the house and sat down right across from Ranma just as Shampoo turned in that direction. She snapped her fingers.
"H, H, Hello, K, k, k, Kasumi! Wha, what a surprise, to to to se se, see you here!" said the doctor as Kasumi came out of the kitchen with the food.
"Why hello, Dr. Tofu." said Kasumi with a smile on her face. "Merry Christmas!"
"Oh, yes, Me, me, merry Chri, christmas, Kasumi!" he said to Ranma, who was sitting across from him. He then started to talk to Ukyo, who was sitting on his right. "I didn't realize it was Christmas, Miss Kodachi!" he said. Ukyo sighed. It was going to be a long night. She hoped the perfume wasn't too strong as she seemed to be able to smell it everywhere.
Dinner was O.K. Kasumi's cooking turned out just like always, perfect. It would have been perfect except for the extremely sweet perfume he kept on smelling and the surprise dish that Akane had made. Akane's cooking was the same as always... which is to say, not too good. Akane stood up and went inside to the kitchen and brought out a glass bowl that looked sort of... odd.
'It's a weird looking glass bowl,' thought Ranma to himself. And indeed, it was very weird. The sides were extremely wavy and the glass looked like it had air bubbles that popped, leaving behind a small round imprint, giving it it's abnormal shape. And what was weirder than that, were the vegetables? inside of it. It seemed like a lettuce and tomato salad, except of course, that it was all red.
"Um, what is that?" asked Ranma nervously, knowing deep inside that he would have to take a bite out of that aweful... whatever it was.
"It's salad, baka!" said Akane crossly as she set the bowl down. Kasumi brought out some styrofoam bowls.
"Here, Akane," she said with a pained smile.
"Thanks, Kasumi!" said Akane happily. She took a metal spoon and scooped out a generous portion. Everyone winced inwardly when the metal started to steam and turn black, as if something acidic had touched it. She dumped it into the bowl and set it in front of Ranma.
"Here, Ranma! Try some!" she said with a happy smile. Ranma looked at his bowl. The tomatos started to steam and as he poked them around, he noticed that they seemed to have melted the styrofoam, leaving behind little imprints of semi spheres. He moved them around so as to not have them burn a hole through the plastic with his wooden chopsticks. He winced as the chopsticks themselves started to look a bit...brown.
'That explains the curious shape of the bowl,' he thought to himself. He was feeling very weird. Almost as if he were watching himself look at the bowl of 'vegetables'. He heard Shampoo speak.
"Stupid tomboy no poison husband!" she said in her broken Japanese. Everything slowed down as Akane and Shampoo had a staring contest. Finally, Akane got a wicked smile on her face.
"Oh, Shampoo!" she said with a false smile. Shampoo started to get nervous. Akane usually didn't act like that. "I didn't know you loved Ranma so much that you would eat whatever he eats. Here, be my guest!" And with that, she scooped three full spoons of salad into another bowl and set it in front of Shampoo. A stunned Shampoo looked at her bowl of red stuff that steamed. "Anyone else want some more?" asked Akane with a hint of menace in her voice. Ukyo and Kodachi who had looked like they wanted to lash out at Akane, immediatly shut up and looked down at their plates. Akane smiled at Shampoo before turning back her attention on Ranma. She knew how they hated her cooking, but she hoped Ranma would like it. Besides, if Shampoo had something in her mouth, then she wouldn't talk as much.
"Well, Ranma?" she asked. "Why don't you try some? I'm sure you'll like it!" She looked extremely hopeful. Ranma sighed and tried to muster up his courage to put 'it' into his mouth. Behind Akane, he could see his father holding one of his panda sign's even though he was not one in his current state. The sign said, Be a man, Try her cooking He then switched it over. Love always touches ones heart flip Go on boy, eat up!
Ranma took a bit of the lettuce? in his chopstick and slowly brought it up to his mouth. Everybody watched him silently. Shampoo, Kodachi and Ukyo were all fretting since they didn't want Ranma to die on them before they tried out their new perfume on him. Nabiki watched expectantly, wanting to know how much Ranma could take before he had to run to the bathroom or sink. Kasumi had a small smile on her face, the same as always. Soun and Genma looked the same as always. Soun behind his newspaper and Genma stuffing his face. Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi and Daisuke looked on with amasement in their eyes. They knew how bad Akane's cooking was and were surprised that Ranma might eat it. Tofu was talking to Betty, who he just happened to bring. Yuka spoke up to try to break the tension.
"Hey, Akane!" she said. "That looks extremely... different! What is in it?" Hopefully, if they knew the ingredients, the tension in the room would lessen. Akane beamed a huge smile at her.
'Finally!' she thought. 'Someone who appreciates my cooking!' She spoke out loud. "Well, it's the normal lettuce and tomato salad..." she began.
'Yeah right!' thought Ranma. 'If that's normal, I'm the green easter bunny from Mars!' Akane continued on.
"...but since it looked a little boring, I decided to add something to spice it up. I added tofu, bean sprouts, three dollops of honey, two table spoons of barbecue sauce, three cups of viniger and two spoonfulls of coffee beans, three cups of chopped liver and strawberries, celery, eggplant..."
Ranma and everybody else got greener and greener at the mention of each new ingredient.
"...and finally," said Akane. "I drained most of the liquid before I used some of the spice sauce we made in Home Economics class." It took a while for Sayuri's brain to register that piece of information.
"But," she said. "You're not taking Home Ec. this year. Yuka and I are, but you arent'." Yuka nodded.
"Right!" said Akane. "But I was there last year. Remember the chili and avocado sauce the teacher had us do to put on our Mexican food?" A few nods from Yuka and Sayuri. "Well, I didn't feel like wasting it, so I decided to save it for a special occasion. I put most of it into the salad! Don't you think that that was a clever idea!?!?" asked Akane cheerfully. Everyone paled considerably. Who knows what might have happened to chili and avocado sauce a la Akane after one year who knows where!? Ranma sighed and knew he was doomed. Doomed, doomed, doomed, doomed. Doomed in capital letters, etc. etc.
'Might as well get it over with,' he thought resignedly. He slowly brought the chopsticks up and put it into his mouth. Strange emotions flashed through him, flavors playing havoc with his senses, especially his tounge. For a minute, he could almost taste individually everything that Akane had put into it. Funny, he didn't remember Akane saying that she had put in mustard and peanuts blended with apple. His head whirled and he felt himself put his chopsticks down on top of his bowl, sign that he didn't want anymore. He saw people standing up and crying out something he couldn't quite make out for it sounded distorted. He noticed things subconciously, like the smile that was on Akane's face, the shape of the tomato on his bowl, the extremely sweet smell that seemed to be everywhere, the same as Shampoo's perfume. He could also smell it on Ukyo and Kodachi, he thought. He saw his life flash before his eyes and said the only thing he could think of.
"Uncute....tomboy!" he said as he stood up shakily. Akane's face turned from happy to furious.
"Ranma no baka!!!" she shouted, hoping nobody noticed the tears that fell from her eyes. She moved her hand in a specific way and summoned her hammer, the biggest one they had seen yet. With all of her strenght she hit him, sending him straight into the kitchen. Her mallet dissappeared as she turned from the table and ran up the stairs to her room. Shampoo looked dubiously at her plate and while everyone was distracted, she dumped it back into the glass bowl. Retching sounds could be heard from the kitchen as Kasumi and Dr. Tofu ran into the kitchen to see what had happened. That was obviously the wrong thing to do since Dr. Tofu promptly lost it and Kasumi had to be gently taken out of the kitchen by Ukyo and Kodachi so that Ranma could be properly examined. The rest of the people shrugged and kept on with eating their supper, carefull to not eat any vegetable from the bowl. After all, this was pretty normal in the Tendo household. Ranma went out of the kitchen looking slightly pale from his near encounter with death and acted like nothing had happened by beggining to start shoveling food into his mouth. Only Kasumi had noticed Akane's pained expression as she flew up to her room. She worried inwardly over Akane and after she had cleaned things up, she went to Akane's room. After dinner had finished, she invited the guests to join them as they went Christmas caroling. Her invitation was accepted with great enthusiasm by the three fiancees and Tofu who promptly strapped Betty on his back and started to do an irish jig by the door to the kitchen while singing 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star'. Everyone else looked at the ones who accepted and promptly declined, saying that they were going home. Nabiki, Ranma, Soun and Genma went to their rooms to bundle up against the cold. Ukyo, wanting to prove that she was the best fiance for Ranma volenteered to do the dishes. Shampoo and Kodachi glared at her and promptly volunteered also, although Shampoo concentrated on drying the dishes.
Kasumi walked softly to Akane's door and put her ear on the door, trying to find out if Akane was alright. She heard some small sobs, but it seemed like she had calmed down. She knocked softly on the door.
"Who is it?" asked Akane from inside as she tried to control her sniffs.
"It's me, Kasumi." she said softly.
"Come in." answered Akane. The door opened slightly and Kasumi slipped in and quickly shut the door after her. The room was dark, since Akane hadn't turned the lights on. Kasumi turned on the desk lamp. The light softly colered the room. Akane was on her bed, the sheets and pillows in disarray. Her eyes were slightly red, evidence that she had been crying for a small while.
"Hey, Akane," said Kasumi softly. "We'll be leaving to go Christmas caroling soon. Why don't you get ready?"
"I don't feel like going," said Akane sullenly. Kasumi looked at her with her warm eyes. Suddenly Akane sat up on her bed. "Am I such an aweful cook?" she asked. Kasumi thought about it for a while. She sat down beside Akane and hugged her.
"No, you're not aweful," said Kasumi. "but you aren't that good either." Akane sighed and her shoulders slumped. It was as if she had almost expected that to be said. Kasumi kept on talking. "Sure, perhaps cooking is not for you, but that doesn't mean you'll never learn. What is important is to keep on trying."
"But I always try and try and try," said Akane. "And it never comes out right. He always hates it. I can tell by reading his eyes. And yet, I always try, perhaps, I might..."
"Akane," said Kasumi. "I'm sure he appreciates what you do for him. But you have to understand that just because he can't swallow it, he doesn't appreciate it. And there are many things you can do very well."
"Like?" asked Akane. "I can't sew. Even a scarf ends up looking like a rag. I'm not as good as they are in martial arts. They are faster, and stronger, better cooks... things that Ranma seems to like, I'm not good at!"
"Perhaps you're not as good in those areas," said Kasumi. "but you have your own gifts and talents. You're a great actress."
"So is Ranma." said Akane sullenly.
"You persevere, no matter how the odds are against you. You lifted daddy's heart after mom's loss by giving him a reason to live when you started to get interested in martial arts. Perhaps Nabiki's ways are a little under handed, but you two make a good profit that keeps the house going. And you know what else?"
Akane had started to look a bit better and was hugging Kasumi back.
"What?" asked Akane.
"You have the best voice I've ever heard and you are my little sister." Kasumi smiled at Akane as Akane hugged her harder.
"Thanks, Kasumi," she said. "You really helped me a lot."
"No problem," said Kasumi. "Now, what are you going to wear?"
"Um, I haven't thought about it." said Akane. "I was planning on a pair of jeans and a jacket."
"But we're going caroling!" said Kasumi. She opened Akane's dresser and looked through her clothes. "Here, how about these?" She held up a pants and shirt combo. The pants were a dark jungle green pair of jeans with a pair of cherries embroidered on the pockets. The shirt was a white blouse with a collar.
"I'd probably end up freezing if I wore just that," said Akane as she got up of her bed and grabbed a half hidden winter coat with a hood. It was red with gold trim.
"Oh," said Kasumi. "That's Sayuri and Yuka's Christmas present, right?"
"Yeah," said Akane. "It'll be the first time I wear it. I like how it looks." She quickly dressed and put on a pair of low heeled black boots.
"And to finish," said Kasumi. She saw the bottle of perfume on top of Akane's desk and grabbed that. She uncapped it and sprayed a bit on Akane. "It smells very nice, don't you think, Akane?"
"Yeah," said Akane. She turned around as Kasumi put the bottle back. "Thanks Kasumi. Now go and get dressed." Kasumi smiled and left the room, glad that her sister was feeling better. She quickly went to her room and got ready. Akane smiled as she heard her older sister whistle cheerfully once again. She sat in front of her mirror and carefully brushed it. She left the the room, with out looking at the bottles of perfume.
Akane went down to the dining room once more, feeling more composed. Kasumi had been right, there were things that she could do. Unfortunatly, she couldn't think of them now. 'It doesn't matter,' she thought. 'I'll remember them soon enough!' She went downstairs and started to gather all the plates. In the middle of the table was the warped glass bowl. She blinked back a few tears as she took the bowl to the kitchen, where she promptly dumped its contents in a plastic bag right before throwing that into the trashcan. 'There goes that,' she thought, almost sadly. Still, one had to buck up and smile...which she tried to do. She quickly went outside where she gathered more bowls and plates to take in to the kitchen.
Ranma came down after changing clothes. He had changed from his tux into something more comfortable. He wore his blue chinese shirt and black pants. He wore a black jacket over the shirt. As he looked at Akane, he felt a little sad. For some reason, he understood that she hadn't meant to poison him and he felt bad for calling her uncute. He went down and quietly helped her put away the dishes. The two worked silently, each thinking silently. 'She isn't mad at me, she isn't yelling either.' thought Ranma. 'I wonder if she's o.k.' Meanwhile, Akane's thoughts...'He hasn't insulted my cooking yet. Wonder what's wrong with him.'
"Hey, Akane," said Ranma quietly. There was a sweet smell in the air it seemed.
"Yes?" asked Akane as she turned to face him. 'Gosh, she looks good in that,' thought Ranma. 'Almost, kawaii.'
"Thanks for making me the salad." Ranma heard himself say. "I'm sorry I didn't finish it and that I called you an uncute tomboy." Akane was suprised to say the least. She blushed a little.
"You're...umh...uh...welcome," she whispered quietly as she gave him a smile. Ranma felt himself blush as he looked at her smile. 'Yep,' he thought. 'She definately looks cute.'
Author's Notes...
Well, that's it for now... I was planning for it to be a one shot, but then decided to post it like this.... I have a major writer's block.... (ouch!!) C&C would be extremely welcome, so send away, please????
Hope you enjoyed the story. I'm an R/A person, can you tell? Don't kill me, pleas? (again...) Oh, BTW, the story was started by Asayogure-san (like the first two or three paragraphs) and I wrote the rest. It was part of a competition... anyway, I know it's a Christmas story and that Christmas just passed, but I decided to post it now... I know, I'm weird...
Well, till next time...
Hotaru Kimiko Lai
"If it weren't for last minutes, nothing would get done." --Anonymous